Pulsar
PSR J1244-6359
Radio pulsar · binary system
A neutron star spinning once every 0.147 seconds; the beams from its magnetic poles sweep across Earth on every turn. It shares a 17.171 days orbit with a CO white dwarf. Period, spin-down, distance and orbit come from the ATNF Pulsar Catalogue; the beam geometry is illustrative.
| Type | Pulsar |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Crux |
| Period | 147.3 ms |
| Period derivative | 4.4×10⁻¹⁸ s/s |
| Characteristic age | 530 million years |
| Magnetic field | 2.6×10¹⁰ G |
| Spin-down luminosity | 5.4×10³¹ erg/s |
| Dispersion measure | 286.0 pc/cm³ |
| Distance | 8,497 pc (27.7 thousand ly) |
| Companion | CO white dwarf (estimated), ~0.69 M☉ |
| Orbital period | 17.171 days |
| Eccentricity | 0.000179 |
| Discovery | 2015 · htru_pks |
| Source | ATNF Pulsar Catalogue |
| Right ascension (J2000) | 12h 44m 47.7s |
| Declination (J2000) | −63° 59′ 47″ |
In the sky
Visible from the whole Southern Hemisphere and north to latitude 26° N. South of latitude 26° S it never sets. It stands highest at midnight in March, the best time to observe it.
Through a telescope from Earth
Light's journey
The light you see tonight set out 28 thousand years ago. At that time Homo sapiens was spreading out of Africa; there was no farming yet. At the speed of Voyager 1, the fastest craft leaving the Solar System (16.9 km per second), the trip would take 492 million years.